Welcome to Devils in the Details. I am your host, Annie DeGraw. So often, when we think about Greek life, we forget just how much philanthropic work is done by our fraternities and sororities. Here at ASU, the Fiji chapter recently raised over $63,000 in the Shave to Save event
For the TGen research center here in Arizona. Let’s talk to them a little bit about how this event came to be, and what’s next for Fiji. We started this fundraising initiative back in September, is when we started planning. And it was me, as chapter president, and then Cameron.
We got together and met and were brainstorming what we wanted to do to give back to this community that’s given so much to us. So the next chapter meeting we had, we went in there with the slideshow and presented to everyone.
And we decided that we were going to shave our heads to make a public statement, to show our commitment fort TGen’s Center for Rare Childhood Disorders. Cameron, as Fiji’s philanthropic chairman, tell me, what was it like to participate in this event, and set and meet such a tremendous goal?
When we presented the idea of Shave to Save to the sororities and graduate networks, there was actually like a little bit of doubt because no goal had ever been set so high for a fraternity fundraiser, especially for Fiji. And so we just kept boosting the goal.
I think it went from $30- to $40- to $50,000. And then, yeah, I mean, hitting to $65,000 is just like so much more than I could have ever imagined for the fundraiser. Too often, when we are talking about Greek life, we forget just how much good and how much philanthropic effort happens on
Behalf of sororities and fraternities. Can you tell me a little bit about how Fiji has been involved in the community and why? Beyond the money, this fundraiser really just showed the impact that fraternities and sororities can have on their local and even national communities.
And I think that the support that we received from the ASU community, our graduate network, the sororities involved, I think it just shows that when people see something that other people care about and have a mission towards something greater than themselves,
I think it’s all the more impactful and they’re willing to help you a lot more. I know this was not the last event that Fiji has coming. In fact, you have another one coming up in April. Can you tell us a little bit about your next fundraising effort and who it’s
Going to support? We’re coming back and excited to start a new one for the semester of spring 2022. This time, we’re going to be supporting the Aspiring Youth Academy. They’re a more recent nonprofit that started in 2014, and their mission is to long-term end poverty in Arizona. In able to do this,
They’re doing it one step at a time by funding programs for underprivileged children to learn the social skills and confidence and leadership skills necessary for them to eventually become entrepreneurs. Neither you or Taylor are originally from Arizona, but you both told us how important it is to support the community that’s given
You so much. Tell me, why is it important for Greek life to give back to the communities that they live in and exist in? You know, in a school of 60,000-plus students, it’s easy to just feel like a number. But from joining a fraternity my freshman year,
It greatly enhanced my college experience in so many ways. And the same can be said about other organizations as well. Just being a part of something, and the benefits that it’s provided for me, and I think Cam could say the same, make it so we kind of feel obligated, in a sense,
To give back to this community that has given so much to us. Being a part of a fraternity, joining right when I got here, it just really gave me a home and somewhere to … some organization to call my own, right?
And so I think that the brotherhood that it’s given me and all the organizations and connections that it’s established has just made me all the more willing to want to organize these big fundraisers with Taylor, put a lot of work into it. And so that’s the giving back, I’d say.
What an amazing philanthropic undertaking by a fantastic group of young people here at ASU. That’s it for today’s Devils in the Details. Until next time, take care.
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